"It's like a basket of apples. They are reporting the average quality of apples in the basket and in the end that's what you get - if you look at the aggregate in the basket. With individual apples in the basket, maybe there are some rotten apples there."

"Maybe the Prime Minister knows what the individual apples look like and I don't... and I want to see what the individual apples look like."

Applied Economics Professor Steve Hanke giving advice to the Bulgarian National Bank in an interview. In his words, instead of putting down information on non-performing loans on a quarterly basis, the central bank BNB should certify and post balance sheets of all banks every month.

He has also warned of the risk still posed in Bulgaria by lack of transparency.

"The risk in Bulgaria is transparency about everything, because nobody knows what is happening in general."

"It's the biggest rumor mill in the world; the world capital of rumors."